Legends of Opera

Mignon Dunn

Mignon Dunn is an American mezzo soprano who in her time was a ledgendary artist singing all the major mezzo roles.

In her Tennessee drawl and with a booming laugh and such admiration for country music she sees herself as "an operatic Loretta Lynn" it is easy to be charmed by her - however, reality says there is much more to Ms Dunn than she suggests.

In an extraordinary career she has sung in the most important opera houses of the world while retaining an association with the Metropolitan Opera for over 35 years.

In Europe, she sang at La Scala, Milan, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Royal Opera in London, the Paris Opéra, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Hamburg Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and many others throughout the world including major houses in South America, Canada etc.

At the Metropolitan alone she sang over six hundred and fifty performances as well as appearing in every major opera house in the USA.

She was especially known for her portrayals of the dramatic Italian roles such as Amneris, Azucena, Eboli, both Laura and La Cieca in La Gioconda, the Princess in Adriana Lecouvreur, and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana.

Her French repertoire included Dalila in Samson & Delilah and Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann as well as Dulcinée in Don Quichotte and Carmen which she has sung over 400 times in four different languages.

Her German repertoire has included the leading mezzo roles in different productions of Wagner’s Ring, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Kundry in Parsifal, and Venus in Tannhäuser.

She has also given many performances of Strauss’s operas singing Klytämnestra in Elektra, Herodias in Salome, and the Nurse in Die Frau ohne Schatten.

She has sung Kostelnicka in Jenufa, Jezibaba in Rusalka, and Kabanicha in Katya Kabanova in Czech as well as Marina in Boris Godunov in Russian. Her Spanish repertoire includes Goyescas and La Vida Breve.

Ms Dunn has also performed recitals all over the world, sung with all the major orchestras and has taught masterclasses extensively.

As a professor of voice her services to young singers have never stopped since she retired from the opera stage. She has been recorded on every major recording label.

Among the many legendary performances she has participated in - is the final recorded Elektra with Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek that continues to sell on DVD today.

Ms. Dunn was married to the late conductor Kurt Klippstatter and she still lives in New York City.